Bounty Hunter's Lament
by Drakarn
Summary: A bounty hunter gets a job to take down some common bandits, but things go haywire as he encounters some people he should have never met.


It was an early morning in the Cow and Corset tavern. The drunks were just now flopping into their beds and the sun had no hint of its arrival above the horizon. Drahs sat back in his seat, staring into a cool mug of ale. His matted and brown hair was unkempt and unwashed. He sighed as he stared into his reflection, seeing the eye patch that marked where his left eye had once been. In its place was an X shaped scar. On his right eye there were three scratches as if a cat had clawed its way down his face. The rest of his face was covered by a section of his long pitch-black coat that extended up to his nose.

He slid his pint away as he heard the creaking of the door opening. Drahs looked up to see Sheriff Derek walk in. A look of pure annoyance was on his face. "Something bugging you, sheriff?" Drahs asked as he leaned his chair back on its hind legs, putting his feet up on the table.

"If I'm coming to you for help then what do you think?" The large man stated, sitting down in the chair in front of Drahs.

"Alright, so you're having trouble finding someone, correct?"

Derek nodded. "That would be correct. It seems that traveling merchants are going missing on the road to Bowerstone."

"Classic bandit activity. I don't see why you're guards can't handle the situation."

Derek sighed and began rubbing his temples. "The thing is…we can't find out where they've disappeared to."

"Do we have a suspect, or am I going to have to find who did this by scratch?"

Derek pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it to Drahs, who dropped his feet off the table and began looking at the picture. He was a rather dim-witted looking individual with a pair of elk horns on his head and a particularly disgusting grimace on his face. While Drahs was looking over the paper Derek continued. "His name is Thag. We think he's the most likely culprit to the disappearances lately."

"Any idea on where his base of operations is?"

"All I know is that he's near Bower Lake. The rest you'll have to figure out on your own."

The bounty hunter pocketed the piece of paper and looked up at Derek. "So what's the pay on this one? I'm guessing this guy's bound to have a few goons running about."

"We'll determine the pay based on the condition the missing persons return in." Derek said as he stood up to leave.

"Hold it, Derek." Drahs said, raising his hand to stop the guard.

"What?"

"What condition do you want Thag in?"

"Have fun with it. All I need is for you to get the merchants back in one piece."

As Derek left the tavern Drahs smiled under his mask. "So you're going after that lowlife?" The bartender asked, looking to the bounty hunter.

Drahs took his feet off the table and slid out of the chair he was in. "That's the plan."

"Remember that you still owe me this week's rent." The bartender called out as Drahs began walking out of the tavern.

"I wouldn't dream of forgetting it." Drahs called back. He picked up a rifle and blunderbuss that was positioned right next to the door, strapping them to his back. He also picked up a pistol and placed it in a holster on his side. The door swung shut behind him as he stepped out into the cool morning air.

Drahs walked down the familiar marketplace, a few beggars sitting in their corners. As he walked up to the front gate the guards let him by without complaint. He found himself going down the path for about an hour before the lake started to reveal itself. The bounty hunter paused for a moment to let the serene view take him in. In his line of work moments of peace like this were much appreciated. He was stopped a few moments later by a blockade. "Hold it right there citizen." A guard called down from his post. "No one crosses this point until that miserable fiend Thag is found."

Drahs looked up to the guard and sighed. "You're really going to try this?"

A second guard came to see what was going on. "What seems to be the problem?" He immediately stopped when he spotted Drahs.

"This citizen wants to cross before Thag-."

"Well let him cross." The second guard stated, slapping his companion across the back of his head. "Do you know who that is?"

"New recruit then, David?" Drahs commented, an amused look on his face.

The second guard nodded. "Yes sir, Drahs. He hasn't had your jurisdiction explained to him yet." The gate cracked open just enough for the bounty hunter to slip through. "Sorry for the mix-up sir."

"Doesn't matter." Drahs replied. "Just make sure he knows who I am and we'll be good."

"Sure thing Drahs. Be sure to bring Thag's head back as proof and we'll let the civilians come through the blockade." David stated as the gates shut behind the bounty hunter.

"Did someone give you some trouble then?" Drahs asked.

"Yep, two of them actually. One was a big fellow with an axe who seemed to dislike wearing a shirt…the other one was a pretty woman, little younger then yourself. I believe they were brother and sister. I told them the situation and they ran off to try and find a trail."

"Did you see which way they went?"

David nodded and pointed towards the lake, which was to the right of Drahs. "Saw them run off in that direction. Took a silly looking tumble down the hill before I lost sight of them."

Drahs nodded. "Thanks, David. I'll be sure to send them back to you if I find them so they don't get hurt."

The bounty hunter broke into a light jog and spotted the steep hill that David had described. He also saw two parts of churned up dirt where the two people must've fallen down. Without a second thought, Drahs hopped onto the hill and slid down while remaining on two feet. Once he hit the bottom he slid to a stop and began looking around. After a few moments the bounty hunter bent over and began examining the ground. There were two sets of fresh tracks on the ground, but no sign of a gang of bandits.

He started walking towards the woods that were straight ahead, reasoning that Thag would've probably made his camp there. Just before he entered the forest he noticed the tracks that were made by the two others had veered off to the right and disappeared. Drahs shrugged his shoulders and proceeded into the forest. Immediately after entering the forest Drahs noticed lights from a campfire. The bounty hunter immediately went into hiding and started sliding up to the source of the light like a shadow in the night.

Once he had gotten as close as he possibly could to the source of light he saw it was coming from a torch that was connected to a wall. Drahs' eye widened with surprise when he realized this was where the bandits were camped out. "They built a wall?" He asked himself. A habit he had gotten into when jobs would last for days with not other company. He shook his head and began looking around the wall. He found a gate but it was shut and no bandits were posted on guard duty outside. "That gets rid of the front door option."

He left his hiding position and began skimming across the left edge of the wall. Eventually he found a section that was in a state of minor disrepair. Drahs made sure that there was no one behind it by checking the gap between the planks of wood. Seeing no sign of life the bounty hunter placed his foot into the broken sections and began climbing. He quickly scaled the wall and landed on the other side with a light thud, making sure not to attract any unnecessary attention. He saw a number of campfires within the border and a large number of bandits congregating around a cage with two people in it, a man and woman. Drahs' attention was immediately drawn to Thag, who was shouting something incoherent, as was common practice for the illiterate bandits.

Drahs slowly inched closer, making sure he wasn't heard. He silently pulled the rifle off his back and started taking aim. A very pale looking bandit that ran up to his leader interrupted Drahs' aiming. "Boss! We got a couple 'a blokes comin' close to the camp."

"Do I look like I care?" Thag said, glaring down at the poor underling.

"They look like the type ta be 'eavily armed boss."

Thag grumbled and began heading to a cabin on the edge of the camp. "Take care of it then!" He shouted, slamming the door behind him.

Drahs cursed under his breath as the camp came to life with the preparations. In a matter of moments the gates were opened and the bandits were all in hiding. One bandit, in particular, had gotten dangerously close to Drahs. Before he was spotted by the mere underling he grabbed the bandit by the head and snapped his neck and positioned the body to look like it was crouching in a bush, as a just in case measure.

A few minutes passed and Drahs had decided to wait out of interest to see what these two people were like. As the time passed he saw a very muscular man walk in without a shirt and very tattered pants. On his back there was a very large axe that was rusted and beaten. "No respect for his weapon." Drahs grumbled to the dead body. A woman with long dark hair shortly followed the man, her face was soft and innocent while her clothes were that of a pauper, dirty and tattered. They did little to retract from her beauty to the bounty hunter though. Drahs took note that she had no weapons whatsoever.

Suddenly the two people in the cage began shouting. "Look out, it's a trap!"

With that the camp came to life once again as bandits began running from their hiding places. The brother of the two people that had entered gave a loud shout of bloodlust and began slicing away at the bandits. To Drahs this man was only barely superior to the bandits in ability. It became apparent that the two had no idea what they were getting into when a bandit came close to cutting the man's head off. To his surprise the bandit hit the ground, his body scorched. His eye, and all the eyes of the bandits, slowly drifted towards the sister whose hand was extended and smoking. The moment was immediately lost as the bandits began charging again. The fighting was brutal and bloody, the brother getting a few nicks and cuts as he barely fought off the bandits. The sister looked as if she'd be overwhelmed as well when Drahs sighed and finally decided to step in.

He looked down the sight with his one good eye, and pulled the trigger. The shot rang through the camp as a bandit fell to the ground, a hole in the back of his head. There was still a good twenty left in the camp altogether. The bounty hunter stepped out of his hiding spot, casually pulling out his pistol. "Good evening gentlemen. My name is Drahs, and I've come for your heads."

The bandits took a step towards the bounty hunter, but he gave them no leeway. He immediately shot all six shots, and six bodies hit the ground. The bandits began charging up to the bounty hunter as he quickly pulled the blunderbuss from his back and fired at the nearest cluster of bandits and another three bandits fell down dead. Two bandits had managed to get up to him and swing. Their swords hit the ground as Drahs rolled forward, avoiding the strikes with ease. Drahs stood up from his roll, pulling out his rifle and firing two shots, dispatching the two bandits. The bounty hunter then began weaving in and out of the bandits' strikes and swings, killing as he went. At one point he had to duck a few blasts of fire that flew over his head. In a few moments all the bandits were dead and the camp was utterly silent.

A few moments passed as the bounty hunter sized up the other two people. Eventually the brother began growling. "And just who the hell are you?"

"The person that saved your sorry hide." Drahs said, loading his guns.

"I didn't need your help, I could've taken them all by myself." The brother stated, walking up.

"Darion, please." The sister said, stopping her brother. "Thank you for the help mr?"

"Drahs." The bounty hunter replied, his face turning a light shade of red as she locked eyes with him. "Might I ask your names?"

"Forgive my manners. My name is Lucindae and my brother's name is Darion."

"I don't need an introduction, sister." Darion grumbled.

"If I may ask, why are you loading your guns?" Lucindae asked, a little worried.

Without warning the door to the hut was kicked open by Thag. "That's why." Drahs stated nonchalantly.

"No one defies Thag the impatient!" Thag started shouting at the top of his lungs. "I'll gut you myself! I'll give you three seconds to get ready… no wait, two! Oh soddit- AAAARGH!"

Drahs raised his eyebrow after Thag was done with his rant. "How did he manage to avoid the guards for so long?" He said to no one in particular.

Suddenly, Thag began charging the group. With one fluid motion, Drahs took the rifle off his back and shot it at Thag. He hit the bandit boss directly in the chest, but that did little to stop him. Drahs then pulled out his pistol and was about to fire when Darion stepped in and began fighting. The two were obviously just using brute strength. The two eventually fought themselves into a stalemate. That stalemate was broken, however, when Lucindae threw a ball of fire at the large bandit. He took the blast right to the side and flew a good ten feet before catching himself. He was about to shout something inaudible until Drahs hit him between the eyes with a shot of his pistol. The bandit hit the ground with a loud thud and some cheering was heard from the people in the cage.

Darion began grumbling about doing all of the hard work but was immediately stopped by Drahs, who got directly into the upstart's face. "Listen here and listen well you bastard." The bounty hunter spat out. "You just about lost your life because you jumped into a situation that you had no idea how to handle. If anyone deserves the right to complain it should be me because I almost lost out on a lot of money. So until you learn how to fight instead of flail don't you dare start complaining. Am I understood?"

Darion was speechless for a moment. The look of surprise, however, was to be short lived and a glare began forming on his face, as he was about to say something to, undoubtedly, provoke the bounty hunter even more. Fortunately for Darion, Lucindae stepped in between the two before even more blood was shed. "Please forgive my brother, Mr. Drahs." She started. "We're still learning how to fend for ourselves. We only just recently left our home to go to Bowerstone."

Drahs sighed, letting his rage go. "You didn't die, and I got my bounty so…no harm done."

Darion gave a huff as he turned to leave. "Let's go sis, we've got a lot of walking to do."

Drahs raised his hand and stopped the two siblings in their tracks. "I doubt you know how to get there. I'll show you the way."

Suddenly Lucindae's face lit up with joy. "You'd really do that?"

Drahs felt his face turn red again and simply nodded. "Uh, a little help here?" The man asked. "Thag keeps the key to the cage in his hut."

Drahs nodded and walked into the hut as Lucindae and Darion walked up to the cage. "John, is that you?" Darion asked.

"Well I'll be damned, it's the Sparrow kids!" The man exclaimed. "Isn't that a coincidence Reg?"

The woman glared at the man and simply stated, "It's Regina!"

Drahs stopped paying attention at that point and found the key to the cage on a table. As he stepped outside he heard footsteps and immediately pulled out his pistol. He saw a bandit wearing a bandanna and less than bloodstained clothes walk up to the group. "Oi, mate!" He called out, addressing Drahs. "Don't even think about letting 'em out."

"And why should I listen to you?" Drahs asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Those slaves belong to me, I paid for 'em." The bandit continued.

"Slaves?" Lucindae asked, horrified.

"Look, I don't want any trouble." The bandit stated, raising his hands. "Give the key to me, and I'll make it worth your while."

"No, don't listen to him!" John shouted.

"Shut up!" The bandit growled, silencing the two in the cage.

Immediately the two siblings began arguing. "I say we let the bandit have the key." Darion said, obviously thinking about gold.

"No, slavery's just wrong." Lucindae stated flatly.

"Look, we don't have enough money to even pay for food. We need to do this."

"No price is worth leaving these people, our friends, to a life of servitude."

Drahs let the conversation go on like this for a while and eventually sighed once he realized they were merely going in circles. "Allow me to handle this very simple problem." He said, stopping the two from their argument.

"I'd love to see you do that." Darion said mockingly.

Casually, Drahs walked up to the bandit, who had a look of hope in his eye. Without warning, the bounty hunter pulled out his blunderbuss and shot the bandit in the head. Thus ending the cretin's miserable life. Drahs then picked up the bag of money that was attached to the bandit's pouch and walked over to the cage, unlocking it. John looked as if he was about to go on a ramble of thanks when Drahs stopped him. "Just go to the blockade, tell them what happened, and tell the guards that Drahs handled the situation. Are we clear?"  
>The two merchants nodded their heads and began running up to the blockade. "Well I could've done that." Darion grumbled.<p>

"Then why didn't you?" Drahs asked, chuckling. After Darion began brooding for a bit Drahs grabbed Thag's mask and pulled it off. "This should work as a trophy." He said to the now masterless cap.

"So…we're really allowed to follow you to Bowerstone?" Lucindae asked.

Drahs turned to face her, the sun now gleaming in his eyes. "Yeah, sure. I've got nothing better to do. Just try and keep up." Drahs said as he started walking down the path, followed by Lucindae, and eventually a very brooding Darion.


End file.
